Kingsley Enagbare

Kingsley Enagbare, South Carolina

Senior | 6’3″ 270 lbs | Atlanta, Georgia | 01/18/2000

Kingsley Enagbare is a strong edge rusher who wins with his physicality and balance but will need to work on getting off the line quicker in order to be a starting EDGE in the NFL.

Overview:

Kingsley Enagbare was a 4-star recruit from Georgia in the 2018 recruiting class and committed to South Carolina as the 10th best SDE in the country. He saw regular playing time as a true freshman and sophomore but finally earned the starting job in 2020. Enagbare finished as an SEC first-teamer and barely missed out on leading the conference in sacks due to a late-season injury.

Enagbare plays from many different alignments and is asked to play from various stances. But he mostly plays as a 7 or 9t in the Gamecocks’ Even fronts; he is also used as a 6, 5, and even a 3T (although that’s usually as a spy). On passing downs, he isn’t asked to slant or stunt too much and is often set up for 1 on 1s with opposing tackles, accompanied by very rare reps where he drops into coverage. But on run downs, especially against read option-heavy teams, Enagbare was regularly used slanting into the B gap, but otherwise primarily tasked with outside contain.

Strengths:

  • Very powerful for a smaller rusher. Both in terms of generating momentum and making contact with a lot of force on things like speed-powers rushes.
  • Good balance and core strength. Hard to move for a 270 pounder, and does a good job always being in control of his weight.
  • Very physical player. Not afraid of contact whatsoever, and is willing to play through people just as much as he is willing to play around them.
  • Showcases some pass-rushing fundamentals that you don’t often see at the college level, he has good timing on his moves and usually does a very good job linking his hands to his feet. 
  • Already has a decent pass rush repertoire. A good club swim, a decent cross chop, and a very good push-pull (although he almost always goes outside on it). It’s both decent for a young player, but also made up of moves that are very easy to build off of. His current skill set is very moldable.
  • Is very good at stacking and shedding, but it’s often done with more raw power than explosiveness. The moves themselves need to be quicker and less staggered to consistently work at the NFL level.
  • Weird profile in terms of movement skills showcases great closing speed when chasing, and sometimes flashes in terms of explosiveness and first step, but that part of his game isn’t nearly consistent enough.

Areas To Improve:

  • His get-off isn’t great from a technical standpoint. Size of steps and other minor details get off could be improved, currently isn’t able to threaten tackles with speed because of that.
  • He tries to create too much separation between him and a blocker for a guy with his size/strength. Almost as if he doesn’t trust himself enough. He could afford to play closer to his opponents following moves and loses precious time in not doing so.
  • His entire pass rush repertoire right now is made of moves that he finishes to the outside, which also isn’t ideal for a player with his strength. In particular, his inside swim needs a lot of work, but other outside-bound moves would make him less predictable.
  • Most of his pass rush moves need work. One I would focus on in particular is his bullrush (especially for speed to power moves). His hands are usually off, and the angle he comes at is too vertical. This should theoretically be his best asset given his physical tools, fixing it should be key.
  • Isn’t overly agile, doesn’t do the greatest job moving side to side, and this shows in how little he ends up staying square during reps.
  • Motor is a bit concerning. Perfectly fine on the play side of reps, but he tends to give up when runs go away from him.
  • His hands-on pass rush reps tend to be too slow, which is worrisome for when he goes up against tackles that reset their hands well, as it could prevent him from having the impact he should have from his move, or could lose him reps he had won.

Injury Concerns:

  • Dealt with a hip injury in late 2020; missed the last two games of the season, and had surgery in the offseason

Projection:

Kingsley Enagbare is a player that still has a lot of projection to his game. Early on he projects as a 3rd or 4th edge type player, being able to provide a different profile as a pass rusher with his physicality and overall athleticism, similar to how someone like Takk McKinley projects.

Enagbare is a bit too much of a tweener right now, not having the first step to really set players up or the combination of technique and violence required to be a primary power rusher. Both of those concerns are fixable. If he does manage to fix them, he would probably become a full-time starter. And it’s even possible that he could fix both, in which case he could conceivably become a true #1 pass rusher. But until he does, Enagbare will not command a starting place in the NFL, and shouldn’t be regarded as anything more than a solid depth option.